A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former police officer to more than seven years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 attack, which is the longest sentence handed down to date in the Justice Department’s extensive investigation into the riots. in the Capitol.
The man, Thomas Robertson of Ferrum, Virginia, was sentenced by Judge Christopher Cooper of the U.S. District Court in Washington to seven years and three months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
A federal jury found Mr. Robertson, 49, guilty in April of five felonies, including obstruction of legal proceedings, civil disturbances and carrying a weapon in a restricted building, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Prosecutors said the army veteran, who had wielded a large stick and put on a gas mask during the riots, confronted police officers who were trying to stop the increasingly violent crowd.
“Thomas Robertson, despite taking an oath of office when he became a police officer, joined the violent mob in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and did so while armed,” said Matthew M. Graves, the U.S. attorney, in a statement. declaration. pronunciation.
The sentence came ten days after another federal judge sentenced Guy Wesley Reffitt, the first defendant on trial in the Capitol attack, to seven years and three months in prison. That judge, Dabney L. Friedrich, said the sentence was significantly longer than that imposed so far on the more than 800 people arrested in connection with the riot.
Key Revelations from the January 6 Hearings
Key Revelations from the January 6 Hearings
File a case against Trump. The House committee investigating the January 6 attack gives a comprehensive account of President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 election. Here are the key issues that have emerged from eight public hearings so far:
Mark Rollins, an attorney for Robertson, said Thursday he planned to appeal his client’s conviction.
In a handwritten letter to Judge Cooper filed on July 28, Mr. Robertson, a former member of the Rocky Mount Police Department in Virginia, said he was “exposed to a lot of pro Trump and anti-Biden media” shortly before the riots for caring for an ailing friend who was an avid supporter of the former president.
“I have never been a big Trump supporter and in fact fully agreed with VP Pence that he had no constitutional authority to delay the counting of votes,” wrote Mr. Robertson. “My arrival at the Capitol after the rally was as much a function of following the crowd, and no one was more surprised than I to be able to walk straight to the Capitol unhindered.”
Prosecutors, however, painted a different picture. In court documents, they said that Mr. Robertson believed the presidential election had been fraudulent and determined to nullify the results. On January 6, Mr. Robertson and another police officer drove to Washington, attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall, and then wore gas masks at the Capitol.
Mr Robertson, who had been trained in the use of a police baton, brandished a large wooden stick into a tactical position, blocking the way of officers trying to stop the violent advance. mr. Robertson met the other officer, Jacob Fracker, 30, at the Capitol, and they took a selfie of themselves and made an obscene gesture, prosecutors said.
Fracker, who was also a member of the Rocky Mount Police Department, pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in March 2021, prosecutors said, and testified for the prosecution at Mr. Robertson’s trial. Mr Fracker’s sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday.
In the days following the attack, Mr. Robertson on social media about his actions, prosecutors said. He said he was proud of a photo he took of himself in the Capitol.
“It shows two men who are willing to put the skin on the line and stand up for their rights,” Robertson wrote on Facebook, according to prosecutors. “If you’re too cowardly to risk arrest, firings and actual gunfire to secure your rights, you have no words to speak that I appreciate.”
